VIP AUDIO 8/31 – WKH – Ask the Editor: Are you romanticizing the past when you lament fans cheering heel Kevin Owens winning the Universal Title on Raw? (36 min)

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VIP AUDIO 8/31 – WKH – Ask the Editor: Are you romanticizing the past when you lament fans cheering heel Kevin Owens winning the Universal Title on Raw? (36 min)

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00:00 / 36:39

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SHOW SUMMARY: In this edition of the Wade Keller Hotline, PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents the Ask the Editor format covering a single topic, and here’s the VIP member question:

I’m listening to your mid-week Livecast (8/31 episode) right now and really enjoying your conversation about cheering Kevin Owens.

I’m having problems relating to your, and your callers’, objections to cheering for Kevin Owens as a heel after he has won a championship.  Is your objection that it ruins the narrative structure or that it exposes the fact that fans know better than to buy into the narrative structure? Is it due to a failed bad guy or fans loving the real guy who plays the bad guy?

I love Jim Valley’s concept a “weird work/shoot amalgamation.”  That’s what it is; people are cheering for Kevin Steen, not Kevin Owens, and saying that he deserves that championship, which he does, even though his character on TV may not.

I feel like these types of criticisms are clinging onto times in wrestling where kayfabe was all we knew. WWE flat out tells us it’s all a work by exposing themselves behind the scenes on a daily basis.  The only time they refuse to do so is through the mics of the announcers, which is interesting.

I do like your point about “creating a monster” with their lack of consistency in their narrative structure.  I’m hoping you can elaborate on this dilemma with more nuance.  I keep wanting to tell you “you’re too romantic about the past”  and I eagerly await your response.

Thanks Wade, I’m really enjoying your coverage these days.

Jeff
Seattle

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